The capital of Tenerife since 1723, Santa Cruz is home to around 30% of the island population, around 300,000 people. It is a typically busy, bustling, modern Spanish town, with wide avenues, narrow shopping streets and a series of suburban residential districts. It's a great place for shopping and definitely worth a visit if you want to avoid the tourist-traps of the south! There are loads of attractions in Santa Cruz including monuments, sculptures, museums, art galleries, some nice parks and the brand new auditorium.

In the centre of Santa Cruz is the football stadium, the home of CD Tenerife. Whilst there's no beach in the city itself, a few kilometers away there is the mile-long, man-made, golden sands of Playa de Las Teresitas which is popular with holidaymakers and usually crowded with local residents at weekends and holidays.